Thursday, November 8, 2012

First Chapter Preview: Full Stop by John Wheeler

FULL STOP!

The Gateway to Present Perfection

by

John Wheeler

1

Resonance

All
pointers converge on a central theme. This is the simple truth of what we are,
the essential and inescapable reality that shines behind the doubtless sense of
being present and aware. No one can say ‘I am not’, as the very statement presupposes
the existence of the one attempting to deny his or her own existence. This is
why one’s existence is the touchstone or ‘gold standard’ by which all other
truths are evaluated. All pointers encourage us to probe the fundamental fact
of our self-existent being, which not only is but knows. This is the heart of
the matter, the constant and final theme of all of the great traditions that
have come down to us under the banner of ‘non-duality’. Non-duality speaks to
the non-separation of the seeker and the final reality being sought. As all of
the traditions tell us, each in its own way: you are that.

In our own times, the direct communication of this basic
truth was famously shared by the well-known sage of Mumbai (Bombay),
Nisargadatta Maharaj. I was fortunate enough to meet one of Nisargadatta
Maharaj’s direct students, ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson, in Melbourne, Australia, a few
years ago. He shared with me the essential pointers he had received from
Nisargadatta Maharaj. More importantly, he was able to point to the reality of
my being so directly that it could no longer be avoided or overlooked. As he
once mentioned to me, it is not the words themselves that are important, but
the living reality behind the words that makes the difference. This reality,
when recognised by one who knows, informs whatever words may be used as
pointers. This causes a resonance in the inner being of the receptive listener
such that the true nature of the listener is recognised in all its immediacy
and livingness. This is the pure light of non-conceptual awareness beyond
thought. It is not that reality is difficult to perceive. In truth, it is so
simple that we overlook the obvious. For, how many thoughts, feelings or
experiences can you have without being present and aware to have them? Still, a
direct pointer to this by one who knows is extremely helpful, as many can
attest.

The
recognition of the inescapable and ever-present nature of the listener’s real
self lays bare the false basis of the belief that one is a separate, limited,
isolated person apart from reality. As this is the basis of all of the concepts
and identifications that generate limitation in life, this revelation
effectively cancels needless psychological suffering. Such suffering is only
sustained through a false belief in being something we are not. Not only is
reality found to be shining within oneself as one’s very self, but the seeking,
suffering and doubt that may have been carried for a lifetime is overcome at a
stroke.

In seeing and experiencing these basic truths for
oneself, there may naturally arise a desire to ‘share the good news’ with
others who would resonate with the pointers themselves. There is no fixed set
of pointers or manner of speaking of these fundamental truths. While the
essential points, being timeless, remain consistent from year to year and age
to age, the manner in which they are framed and communicated must necessarily
vary, based on the needs of the times. Furthermore, the questions and issues
raised by those engaged in the verification of the truths in their own experience
are bound to change. This is why it is useful to have fresh expressions and
pointers set in contemporary words and speech. This allows us to focus on the
essence and frees us from having to digest archaic terms and outdated cultural
trappings.

2

Beyond Words,
Shining in Your Heart

If we are
looking for answers at a conceptual level, the pointers are just words.
Clearly, words have no real life or substance, being dead images. Listening to
words is about as fulfilling as trying to drink water from the painting of a
lake. At some point, an interest may arise to drop all the concepts, pointers
and words — in fact, to stop looking in the mind entirely. In that pause, let
the looking turn directly to that clear, doubtless existence shining in your
heart.

If you
are hearing pointers but not looking at what is being pointed to, this will
seem like so much empty prattling, for that is all it can ever be at a verbal
level. But take the cue and look directly into your own heart. See, know and be what you
are. Drop the concepts and come face to face with your real self, your
undeniable being.

All
the pointers such as ‘love’, ‘oneness’, ‘awareness’, ‘life’, ‘aliveness’,
‘unconditioned’, ‘free of suffering’, etc., are only trying to give a sense of
the nature of what you are. If they are left as words, they are just empty
husks. But is what is shining in your heart a lifeless dead image? If not, what
is it? This is what needs to be seen, non-conceptually, in direct experience.
Nothing is gained or attained, because what you are has been here all along.

3

Words Are Only
Pointers

It is a
bit tricky quoting the words of ‘great’ teachers for confirmation of anything,
because the words are only pointers and concepts arising in particular
situations. In other words, in the moment the words were delivered they were
spontaneous pointers of encouragement for someone in that moment to drop a
particular concept or perspective in order to notice what is here prior to
concepts. Later, when we read the words, it is actually a case of moving back
into concepts and away from what is clear and present. Seeing this may free up
a lot of space. That is why reading about non-duality is a bit misleading and
often complicates the simplicity of it.

For
every passage one quotes, you can find dozens more asserting the opposite view.
It is helpful to see why this must be so. There is not a fixed ‘teaching’ at
all. There is a stream of spontaneous points arising to expose whatever
dualistic notions the ‘seeker’ may have been holding as true. It is more a
matter of love in expression rather than some spiritual verbiage one should
sift through years or centuries afterwards. People think you get to the heart
of this by studying philosophy, learning Sanskrit, or delving into the recorded
words of Shankara, Buddha or whomever. This is entirely erroneous and
completely misses the mark. It only fattens the stock of concepts and keeps the
attention locked in the mind. It is overlooking your ever-present natural
state.

Pause
the concepts, whatever they may be, and notice what is present, what you
actually are here and now. That is already evident and available in all its
immediacy. No teacher, guru, scripture, satsang or awakenings are involved. I
cannot stress this strongly enough. That we thought they were was only an
ignorant mistake. So return to the basics and have a look for yourself.

Instead
of talking about concepts, chuck them all overboard and talk from what is
actually present in your experience. Non-duality books, quotes, spiritual
jargon and hypothetical ‘what ifs’ are entirely incapable of revealing the direct
recognition of immediate freedom and happiness. That is present as the pure
light of simple knowing and being shining in the core of your mind or the
centre of your heart. In that light, the universe and all bodies and minds
arise and pass like specks of dust in the warmth of a vast, cloudless sky,
which is the sky of your being. That non-conceptual awareness or presence of
life beyond the mind pours out through your senses and bathes each thought,
feeling and experience in a timeless and inescapable clear cognisance. Call it
what you will — being, awareness, love, presence, what is, knowing, light,
life, intelligence, spirit, etc. Whatever it is, it is undeniable and
inescapable. It is being that cannot be doubted or contradicted; an unborn,
undying awareness without ceasing; life with no boundary; a peace and causeless
joy that embraces all appearances, all possibilities, all opposites. Nothing
can be outside of that; nothing stands apart from that; there is nothing other
than that. And you are that.

4

Awareness and
Objects

The
resolution of the apparent duality of awareness and objects lies in seeing that
the supposed difference is not really present. In other words, there is an assumption
that there is awareness and objects. Then the mind gets tangled up in how they
are supposed to be stitched together. This is like the person who asks, ‘How do
I awaken?’ and then gets wrapped up in that concept. He or she overlooks that
awareness is already awake, and that the supposed ‘I’ entity is not really
present, except as an assumption. In the clear seeing of this, the dilemma
collapses.

The
issue is similar with awareness and objects. No object or experience can ever
stand outside of, or apart from, the awareness of it. This resolves the issue
directly. The objects and awareness are not separate, even now. So why talk of
how to put them together, or how to see them as one? Are they separate to start
with? No. Therefore, the concept and the problem drop.

Most people naturally assume there are only objects and
have no real sense of awareness itself. So the pointer is brought up to
distinguish objects and awareness only for the purpose of highlighting the
presence of awareness, not to create an absolute split between them (because
there isn’t one). Once awareness and your identity as that is clear, you can
look back at the apparent objects and see that they have no real substance or
independent nature apart from the awareness of them. This is somewhat like the
figures on a carved marble relief not being separate from the marble itself.
The false dilemma is apparent in the question, ‘How are the carved figures and
the marble to be seen as one?’ The real question is, ‘Have you ever seen them
as separate from each other?’ The bottom line is that there can be no
experience outside of awareness. So, to speak of awareness and objects as if
they were independent is not possible based on direct experience.

It is
very important to mention a subtle point that many miss at this juncture. The
objects are not in themselves the same as awareness, or the abiding reality.
Objects are appearances, but your real being remains independent of the
presence or absence of the objects. In practical experience, you can see that
objects are constantly changing, but your own being remains without break. A
wave is nothing but water; but water as such is not a wave as such. Therefore,
it is not a one-to-one equivalence. That is why when people say ‘all
appearances are the oneness’, it is not a precisely clear and accurate
statement.

5

Images and
Thoughts Are Not Me

Question:
Your meeting last night was very helpful for me. I now see that the mind and
its concepts are just that — mind and concepts. I recognised the truth from the
first time you explained it to me a few years ago, but for the last few years I
have been unclear in regards to thinking and thoughts. Like Alicia Silverstone
in the movie ‘Clueless’, you just need to say to thoughts: ‘Whatever!’.

I have been investing value in thoughts and
projecting identity into them, which is a typical Gemini trait! Last night
helped me to see the simple point that beingness or awareness is what I am, and
I need not (nor can I!) leave my beingness. Thoughts are not the problem. I can
see much more clearly now that it is just ignorance (ignoring the obviousness
and simplicity of who I really am) that prompted me so often to identify with
thoughts and to lose sight of myself in mentation.

John: The basic
issue in this context has to do with ‘returning’ to the mind with some sense
that whatever the mind is saying about you (the conceptual ‘me’ or person
notion) is an adequate, real or true definition of who you are. But those
images and concepts in the mind are always in reference to one’s identity as
that image or entity, which itself is an appearance in the mind. Our own being
or consciousness nature is not an image, a thought or an appearance in the
mind, as it always precedes and survives any such thoughts. The direct and
clear seeing of this position takes the steam out of any tendency to look for
our reality, identity or happiness in that network of thoughts. Why would the
sky look for itself in a mass of passing clouds? It would never imagine itself
to be one among the number of clouds that happen to be appearing, saying, ‘That
particular cloud is me’. The sky is open and at ease as it is, always untouched
and unaffected. What can a cloud do to obstruct the sky? It is the same with
thoughts; they are images blowing through the clarity and spacious nature of
non-conceptual being-awareness, which is your innate self. Clear seeing shows
that the images and thoughts are not me. They do not define me. I exist at an
entirely different ‘level’ or ‘place’ (as the space in which the thoughts
appear). Looking in this way makes it hard to grasp hold of any particular
thought with a sense that ‘this is who I am’. It is no bar on thought or the
meaningful use of the mind in the appearance of things. However, there is a
clear and emphatic recognition that no thought ever defines or limits your
innate and abiding self.

6

Awareness Is
Constant, Contents Are Changing

Question:
I have been seeing in experience that awareness is always present, without
effort; no searching necessary; and ‘I’ appear in awareness rather than
awareness appearing in me.

John: You
are the awareness. The key is to see that the dualism implied in ‘I and
awareness’ is false. It is not you in awareness or awareness in you. You are that.
That is the whole essence.

Q:
When thoughts and concepts are gone, I am still here and aware. There is no
problem with that in experience. Then there is trying to stay in
presence-awareness and less in thought.

John: This
brings in a false dualism. If you are awareness and the separate ‘I’ is not,
who should try to stay in awareness? Knock this concept out with a bit of clear
seeing.

Q:
The pointer that is difficult to reconcile with my experience is that awareness
and the contents of awareness are the same.

John: This
is not really needed. This is only a concept that the mind is trying to
reconcile, and it just stirs up the doubts. Make sure your identity is clear
and that there are no doubts about that. The rest will become apparent on its
own.

Q:
I feel awareness illuminates the outside world, but that seems different than
saying that the world is awareness. I can reduce being to two: awareness and
its contents.

John: The
point is that you do not experience any content independent of awareness. That
would be entirely speculative. It is not that the appearances are
awareness. How could they be? Awareness is constant, non-objective, cognisant.
Contents are changing, objective, insentient. Equating awareness and contents
one-for-one is not possible. Contents are appearances of awareness. They have
no substance or independent nature apart from awareness. So the awareness is
what is real or substantial. The tried-and-true analogy is waves on the ocean.
The waves are nothing but ocean water, but the ocean per se is not waves.

Keep
in mind, though, the key point in all of this is not to get lost analyzing
appearances. It is to know yourself. Do not lose sight of this point.

Q:
All things are allowed without resistance. All things need awareness to come
into being. But I am struggling with the point that awareness and the objects
of awareness are one and the same.

John:
Think over what I just said. That should clear things up.

Q:
Allowing things is not the same as being things.

John:
There is a subtle concept in here. Who is allowing? Things are simply
happening. It is not a matter of allowing them. That would bring in a subtle
sense of separate self. Drop all references to the concept of separation and be
what you are. That is perfect freedom and peace.

7

The Gateway to
Pure Being

Question:
You say being is the reality.

John:
Words are pointers. In this context, ‘being’ is being used as a pointer to
final reality.

Q:
But is being or ‘I am-ness’ not observed too?

John:
Beingness (note, the suffix ‘ness’), ‘I am-ness’ and consciousness are often
used in reference to the first manifestation of pure being. Note that ‘being’
and ‘beingness’ are different. One is reality, the other is a quality (or the
expression) of reality.

Q:
Is being just a gateway to reality that is beyond being and non-being?

John:
Being and non-being, consciousness and unconsciousness, etc. are dualities. As
such, reality transcends and includes them. When I say ‘being’, I am generally
referring to ‘pure’ or ‘non-dual’ being, meaning beyond the duality of being
and non-being. Words are limited!

Q:
Nisargadatta Maharaj clearly made the point that we are not the concept ‘I am’,
nor are we the non-conceptual ‘I am-ness’. He said the non-conceptual ‘I
am-ness’ brings us to the absolute, which I assume is pure awareness, which is
everything.

Q:
Yet being is observed and leaves us, whether in deep sleep or death.

John: Not
true. Consciousness departs. As does knowing that I am. These are really the
same thing. The awareness of being departs, but your actual existence remains.
That is the absolute that is prior to consciousness. Do not just go by words.
Make sure you see what is being pointed to by the words.

Q:
Are you just saying being is reality as a gateway, or what?

John: As
stated, the experience of consciousness, of knowing that I am in duality, or
beingness (the experience of being) are the gateways. They are pointers to that
which is prior. That which is prior (or always there) is usually termed as one
of the following: pure awareness, pure consciousness, pure being (beyond being and
non-being), your real nature, non-dual being or awareness, or the absolute.

Note that knowing that you are comes and goes. In sleep,
you do not know that you are. But your real being is always there. That is
always present and always aware. You even know the coming and going of
consciousness. This is self-evident, but we tend to miss this point because we
are always focused on objects. But even now, what we are is not an object.

The sense ‘I am’
is the first manifestation of your pure being. This is also what Ramana
Maharshi called the ‘I thought’. Nisargadatta Maharaj and Ramana Maharshi recommended
tracing this experiential ‘I’ or ‘I am-ness’ to its source. Therefore, it acts
as a gateway to the reality that you truly are. Remember, you are that here and
now. The pointers are only temporary devices to be used if this point is not
clear.

8

Getting to the
Root Assumption

Question:
I have been looking into my discontent or misery to see the truth about it.
This morning I woke up with the feeling that, while things are okay right now,
sooner or later it is all going to come crashing down. There is nothing
rational to the feeling, but it was very strong (and still is to an extent). I
looked at it as simply a feeling that would pass and give way to another
feeling, and that a feeling is just a feeling, not a fact. This was of little
consolation, however. Trying to counter these feelings with ‘good’ thoughts
does not work either. How does one go to the core of this and see the truth
that nothing is wrong and that these feelings really have no bearing on what I
am?

John: One
thing to notice is that the feelings are driven by assumptions or concepts.
Ideas can be just as powerful as events, when it comes to our felt response to
them. A key approach is to be clear on precisely what the ideas are claiming,
so that you have some space to question them to see if they are true. That is
not a complete solution, but it is a vital initial recognition. Once you get a
sense of how these thoughts work, you can look a bit deeper at the core assumption
at their root and see if that is really true. A bit of looking shows that all
the thoughts are different labels and concepts about ‘me’, about who I am.
There is a common theme running throughout all the patterns and concepts, which
is that I am some limited person in the appearance of things who is subject to
suffering and some horrible fate. Ultimately, this assumption needs to be
looked at head on. The key is being very clear on the positive truth of what
you actually are. That is the essence of it, because the notions of limitation
and separation depend upon overlooking that aspect or being in some doubt about
it. In the end, any limiting experience in life is only a call to know
yourself. Make sure these points are clear, and use them as the basis of any
other understanding or looking. If who you are is not clear, any other looking
will be colored by that perspective. That is why most spiritual practises and
approaches fail to deliver lasting freedom. The assumptions we take into them
often hamstring the results. When the basic sense of what we are is clear, we
can look at concepts — even the root ‘I’ concept — and see them as untrue,
based on our own clear sense of who we truly are.

9

Concepts Come
and Go, but You Remain as You Are

Question:
I am just coming to the end of your book The Light Behind Consciousness, which is
beautifully clear. There seems to be a clearer recognition now of my true
nature. The simple fact that I am present and aware right now is recognised.
But I still have nagging thoughts regarding the inquiry into the ‘I’. In the
investigation, the mind will not leave alone the notion that the body is related
to the ‘I’. Upon looking for this phantom ‘I’, the body is seen and is related
to as my ‘I’. I am failing to see the falsity of this, and so the suffering
appears as related to something very real. I know I am making this too
complicated, but I cannot see past the idea that I am this body.

John: To
see yourself as the pure, simple being and knowing presence is the heart of it.
Pause there and drink in the clarity and freedom of being itself. See that all
the thoughts and appearances come and go in this. Everything simply arises and
sets in your being or innate presence. That presence remains as it is — solid,
present, profoundly cognisant, still and yet wonderfully alive and radiant.
That is the point — to see this, know this and be this. Even those words are
too much, for you effortlessly are this. It is just a noticing of a simple fact that we
may have overlooked.

If we go back into the mind searching for
answers and trying to understand various pointers, that is only engaging the
conceptual mind. So do not complicate the point of all this. The pointers are
only to bring us to see this, our natural state. Once recognised, the pointers
have done their job. The thoughts ‘I am the body’ or ‘I am not the body’ are
both concepts coming and going in what you are. Neither is true; neither is
false. Also, neither of these concepts is what you are. Clearly those concepts
will (and do) come and go, but you remain as you are. It is not so much that
the body is a problem, for it is not. Like everything else, it is an appearance
(meaning an appearance in awareness). From the position of simple aware-presence,
all appearances are at the same level. All appearances are in and of awareness
itself. The thought ‘I am a body’ is clearly a concept. That concept is not
your abiding reality. To believe that thought means to ‘trade in’ your
non-conceptual nature for a mere concept. You are not a concept! The point is
not to grasp that concept or identify that as yourself. Then you simply remain
as you are, concept-free. All things, including the body, arise and pass in the
clear light of being and knowing, like clouds passing through the sky. All is
well.

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"BRAVO TO FRED FOR WRITING WITH SUCH CLARITY. I hope 12 steppers reading this review really get the delicious paradox of that and find themselves picking up this book. Addiction tends to keep us seeking, even if we are seeking recovery. Fred's book has the ability to really bring the timeless wisdom that freedom is in the here and now into the 12 step movement. Great book. I loved it."~SCOTT KILOBY,author, Natural Rest for Addiction: A Revolutionary Way to Recover through Presence."IF THE TRUE MEASURE OF A BOOK is to be found in the perfume that remains behind when all the words have been forgotten then, for Beyond Recovery, it is this quality of honesty, openness and surrender which communicates itself in the words and between them, administering not just to the mind but to the background of Awareness."~RUPERT SPIRAauthor, Presence: The Art of Peace and Happiness"THIS BOOK BY FRED DAVIS extends the culture of [Twelve Step Recovery] and contributes to the current shift in Western civilization, which is one from attending to religion, philosophy, art, history, music, and science as pointers to our true nature, to true nature itself. In other words, it is a shift toward attending to attention, or to the one attending, rather than to the creative outcomes of that kind of attention."~JERRY KATZ, editor, One: Essential Writings on Nonduality

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